53 NEDSVK Undiano

 

Slovakia couldn't achieve another upset after their famous defeat of Italy last time out, they fell to the Netherlands, who advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals for their first time this century. It was a relatively close run thing, at least until the second goal of a two-one Oranje victory. 

Alberto Undiano Mallenco was appointed for his third match of the tournament, to the surprise of quite a few. The Spaniard had issued nine cautions in his first game (GERSRB) and none in his second (PRKCIV) - though it was certainly his competition bow that lived longer in the minds of the watching public.

For my money, this was the Spanish ref's weakest game of his World Cup - but not really a terrible performance either. Let's start by looking back some of the crucial decisions in the match.

Key Match Incidents

7' - Potential penalty to the Netherlands?

Radoslav Zabavník's arm is very close to his chest, the ball comes from a short distance, and is not heading towards goal - this sort of handling should never (ever) be penalised, and to do so would be a big mistake (more a nod to a VAR-era).

I doubt the officials really perceived what happened here anyway, to be fair. 

55' - Potential red card to Robin van Persie?

The contact made by the Netherlands player is rather clearly of a(n at least borderline) Serious Foul Play manner, and van Persie does seem to kick slightly over the top of the ball in trying to play it. However, the dangerous contact is the result of a mere accident, for which van Persie should really not be sent off for.

+93' - Penalty to Slovakia (+ YC to Maarten Stekelenburg)

This whole incident is actually pretty hilarious - you can see Undiano has the whistle in his mouth the whole time, waiting for a shot wide or something, so he can blow the final whistle. That doesn't happen, and his yellow Fox40 stays at his lips the whole while. 

From the deflected shot (and correct onside), he awards a penalty to Slovakia for a foul on Martin Jakubko by the goalkeeper. Jakubko is quite smart here, and I would call this penalty nearly wrong - he trawls his leg in order for it to be hit by Stekelenburg, probably realising he had minimal chance to score otherwise. After a small delay, Undiano blows for a penalty - being rather not optimally positioned and too close - and cautions the 'keeper (rather wrongly). 

Once the penalty is scored, referee then does blow the final whistle.

Approach

After a quiet first half-an-hour, Arjen Robben's caution at 31' drew ire - "that Spanish ref is at it again" - but Undiano was actually rather lenient in the two minutes preceding. Juraj Kucka's foul at 29' was, in my view, a deceptive but clear SPA; he was given a verbal warning only. Then, Joris Mathijsen committed a deliberate foul from behind on Robert Vittek at 30', with a freekick only given. 

But it was Robben's handling which crossed the line for Undiano. I can accept all three of these decisions in isolation (31' was even a mandatory caution according to the LotG of the time), but the Spaniard failed to manage the game here in my opinion. It was a bit cheap just to pick out this offence, and didn't do anything to calm people down. 

To be honest, it would have been better if the referee had given only a freekick in all three cases, or a caution at both 29' and 30', and not 31'. Formal verbal warnings for deliberate tactical fouls, whether you book for SPA or not, in situations like 29', are rather nonsensical if you ask me. 

Kucka was then booked at 40', an unavoidable one, and was a bit fortunate not to walk actually after further infractions at 53', 69'. Both warnings delivered to Kucka - 29' and 69' - are typical of Undiano's limitations as a referee; really, they are only defending the foul call, and not managing the players effectively.

Compared to his group stage matches, I sensed Undiano's position as referee in this game was much more isolated. The players didn't really accept his pedantic foul selection (mistakes at 50', 61'), and by the end, Undiano seemed too mentally drained to properly deal with incidents (72', 82', 90', +93'). 

He failed to effectively solve a confrontation with the angry Slovakia coach (81'), and Martin Škrtel, who was getting more and more annoyed at Undiano consistently punishing him for physical play. His furious roar in the ref's direction at 80' was certainly worthy of censure and shouldn't have been ignored. 

The procedure resulting in the second goal saw the Spaniard do nothing formally wrong, but was all a bit chaotic, even if Škrtel finally got his caution after the ball was in the net. Undiano's strong acceptance (even in Germany - Serbia) he had enjoyed previously, was at no point really visible in this game. 

Assistants: very good performance by Fermin Martínez Ibáñez spoiled by an incorrect flag at +92' (- 0,2); Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez was most noted for his flag breaking, and allowing Laurent Ugo the chance to get up off the reserve AR chair. 

Balance

While his performance wasn't bad, this game was a step too far at World Cup 2010 for Alberto Undiano Mallenco. While the penalty call didn't really matter in the end (and wasn't a scandalous one in any case), he struggled generally to handle the game effectively, and did not leave the most satisfying impression.

On the whole, I'd say it was a decent tournament for the pretty young Spaniard. Ironically, it was his (in my opinion, better) performance in Germany - Serbia that would prove more damaging for his career than this one, as Pierluigi Collina had his eyes instead on another (older) ref from Spain who had just been promoted to UEFA Elite. 

In that regard, Undiano can consider himself a little bit unlucky that this was his last major tournament match ever. 

Alberto Undiano Mallenco - 8,1 Fermin Martínez Ibáñez - 8,3 Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez - 8,4 Stéphane Lannoy Laurent Ugo ESP – FRA	Netherlands 2-1 Slovakia Round of Sixteen 28 June
Robben (31') - Lack of Respect (Handling) Stekelenburg (+93') - Tripping	Kucka (40') - Tackle Kopúnek (72') - Tackle Škrtel (84') - Dissent